Rumors
by Deathberry15
Summary: REVISED CONTENT. Sequel to Sick Days, Seven Nights. Just picking up from where I left, cuz I felt like it. It’s Ichigo’s turn to get sick. And Orihime’s turn to take care of him... sort of. Ichihime. Rated T for mild language use. Enjoy!
1. Come clean

Originally I didn't plan to do a sequel to my first story (I didn't even think I could pull off a sequel), but after much toying with the idea and much debating with myself, I decided to do it, and I told myself I would go through with it if I could sketch it out in one sitting. Well, I did, but then comes the piecing together, editing, beta reading, etc. It took me a while, since I've been very busy, but I've finally managed to post it. I'm proud of it. I just wish it could've been shorter.

I realize now I suck at writing Ichigo, so forgive me if you feel he is a bit out of character. In my defense, I was listening to some very sappy songs while writing this. I might've been in a too-cheery mood. Hopefully you find him… endearing.

Music that contributed to the inspiration for this story: "Grazed Knees" by Snow Patrol, "Sunshine" by Keane, "Sanctuary" by Natalie Imbruglia, "Life" by Yui Horie, "London Rain" by Heather Nova, "Come Clean" by Hilary Duff, "Here I am" by Marion Raven, "The Walnut Tree" by Keane, and a whole bunch of others that I can't recall right now.

Disclaimer: I don't own (unfortunately) anything about this story, except for the main plot. That was my twisted, hopeful romantic mind on the work.

* * *

**Rumors – by Deathberry15**

**1: Come clean**

Okay, so maybe Keigo had not been so far from the truth. But he didn't need to know that. _Nobody_ needed to know, Ichigo told himself firmly. However, he didn't think he was doing a very good job hiding it anyway.

Bloody viruses.

"That shade of green is not very flattering on you, Kurosaki-kun. It clashes with your hair."

"Shut up, Rukia."

Rukia continued to smile her cheesy smile that always accompanied her corny schoolgirl voice, while observing a very dizzy and sickly green Ichigo as he swayed slightly from side to side. Class 1-3 had just gotten back from lunch, and was now leisurely lounging around waiting for Ochi-sensei. Ichigo, much to his own dismay (and maybe the ones around him as well), had spent most of the morning coughing and sneezing, and he had been barely able to eat anything, fearing it would only make his stomach more upset than it already seemed to be. Now he had a headache and he was afraid he'd gotten chills too. All of which would explain why Rukia was poking fun at his face. He guessed he didn't look very well.

"Shouldn't you go to the nurse or something?" Rukia muttered, dropping the weird voice. For a fleeting second, she looked genuinely concerned for him. There were beads of cold sweat on his forehead and he was getting greener by the second.

He wanted to say he was fine, but he couldn't really speak, so he just shook his head. Taking a deep breath, he swallowed hard, gulping down the feeling at the pit of his stomach.

Rukia just gave him a pitiful stare. "Seriously, Ichigo, you don't look so well. In fact, you look like you might pass out. If you don't go to the nurse, then I'll have to drag you over there myself."

Ichigo shot Rukia a glare, but he didn't look half as threatening as he usually would have, considering his miserable state.

"Thank you, but I'm fine," he replied in mock politeness through gritted teeth, causing Rukia to glare back and huff.

"Suit yourself, pig-head," she shot back, and walked over to Tatsuki and Orihime, joining their conversation. Ichigo rolled his eyes, but looked back at them.

Considering the rumors that had been going around (thanks to Keigo), the last thing Ichigo needed was for anyone to find out he _was_ actually sick, because people would only assume it was true _how_ he caught the sickness. His classmates could be so annoyingly nosy. But regardless of what anyone thought, Ichigo didn't want Orihime, most importantly, to find out he might be sick. He wouldn't want her to think she'd had anything to do with that; he had assured her he would be fine.

Orihime had gone back to school that morning, and already she seemed to be on the same high spirits she always was. The previous afternoon, once Dr. Kurosaki had made 100 sure that she could go back home and back to her normal activities, she had left the clinic and gone back to her flat, after thanking Isshin and Yuzu and Karin. But Ichigo had not been present. He had been on "shinigami duty". When he'd returned later that evening, she was already gone.

Ichigo had noted how perfectly fine she seemed. There were no more symptoms, and she even seemed livelier than ever. When she had greeted him this morning as he entered the classroom, it was as if nothing had happened, as if she hadn't spent a week holed up at the clinic, feeling terrible and nearly overdosed on pharmaceuticals. However, she did approach him briefly to thank him for taking care of her and helping her out with the schoolwork. But before he could reply, she had walked away, and he thought he'd seen her blushing slightly. He was glad she had left, though; for a moment he had started to blush too. Thankfully, no one else seemed to have witnessed the minor interaction. He didn't need that.

The truth was that the rumors Keigo had spread were more accurate than he would ever admit. He _did_ kiss Orihime, and now he couldn't stop thinking about that.

He kissed her, and the cold symptoms he was manifesting were enough to prove it.

Of course, there were a million other ways he could've caught it from her, other than lip contact. In fact, there were also a million other people he could've caught the cold from, considering the amount of patients that frequently visited his dad at the clinic with various ailments, colds and flu included. He could've gotten it from the pre-school children with runny noses, the ones who came about two weeks ago for a checkup appointment; he could've been infected by the wheezing old man who came to pick up some prescriptions on Monday. There was a woman a few weeks ago who'd had a terrible dry cough. Any of them could've infected him, and the cold could just be manifesting itself now.

But no one would see it that way. They would only think of Orihime having spent a full week at the Kurosaki clinic, in close proximity of Ichigo.

So he was screwed anyway.

When he was not worrying about what everyone would think, though, he pondered over what exactly made him kiss her in the first place. It had been a sudden, whimsical thing, an impulse. Caused by what? He had no idea. But now he was beyond embarrassed.

What was worse, he had no idea if Orihime had been conscious at all when he'd kissed her. Did she remember him kissing her? Maybe she had, or maybe she thought she was hallucinating again. But he had no way of finding out. He could never bring the subject up with her. If she couldn't remember, then she would know he had done it, and he would just be even more embarrassed that he already was. If she _did_ remember, though… well, what then?

Ichigo had no more time to think about that, when Ochi-sensei finally walked through the door and told everyone to take their seats. As she pulled out her notebook to do roll call, Ichigo sat down heavily. He was sweating profusely now, and feeling worse. But what was there left for him to do? He took a few deep breaths. _Relax, Kurosaki,_ he told himself. All he had to do was wait a couple of hours and then he could go home and pop a few pills and get better. _I hope._

"Kurosaki Ichigo! Kurosaki! Are you listening?"

Ichigo was startled out of his thoughts. He looked around, and everyone was staring at him, including the sensei, with an exasperated expression on her face. She had been calling his name from the attendance list, and he hadn't heard her.

"Um… huh?" he mumbled like an idiot.

Ochi-sensei sat back down with a huff and shook her head. "Never mind. Pay attention, though. Your body is obviously present, but your mind needs to stop wandering and get back in the classroom, or else I'll have to mark you down as 'absent', you hear?" And she continued calling out names.

Ichigo blushed slightly. A few classmates were still staring at him; he glared, and they looked away. _Nosy gits_, he thought angrily, and smiled satisfied that he could still inflict that kind of fear on his peers with just a look. He went back to breathing deeply.

"Ichigo…" a deep voice behind him said. Ichigo turned to look at Chad, who was watching him serenely. "Are you alright?" Chad asked quietly, his faced neutral.

Ichigo, naturally, was about to reply that he was fine, but he didn't get the chance. A wave of nausea overcame him, and he felt the bitter taste of bile rising to his throat, and the sensation that his whole digestive system was tightening. Not thinking twice about it, he clapped a hand over his mouth and leapt to his feet, nearly knocking over his desk and the desk of everyone around him, as he made his way across the classroom and to the door. He barely heard Ochi-sensei yell something at him, and the students exclaiming confusedly, when he was already rushing down the hallway toward the restroom. He burst through the swinging door, rushed into one of the nearest stalls, and unclamped his mouth. In one fluid movement, he sank to his knees, lifted the toilet seat, and puked.

His hands were shaking as he held on to the edges of the porcelain bowl, heaving into it. Tears sprung to his eyes as he scrunched them shut to block out his surroundings, bent only on getting rid of the awful feeling in his stomach. He couldn't even bring himself to look at what now lay in the abyss of the toilet. He was about to flush it away, but only bent down for a second round of retching. And after round two came round three, and he begged for it to stop.

Five minutes later, when he had made sure all the contents of his stomach had been poured and flushed down the toilet bowl, and he had managed to get his breath back, Ichigo emerged from the stall, holding on with trembling grip to the linoleum walls, his legs wobbly as he half-crawled, half-lifted himself back to his feet. He desperately needed fresh air, because the stench of his sick mixed with the strong industrial-solvent smell typical of a public toilet was making him even sicker.

A low exclamation of disgust interrupted his wallowing, and Ichigo looked to his left to find Ishida leaning casually against the sinks, arms crossed over his chest.

"That was so gross," he said, pushing his glasses back up to the bridge of his nose. Ichigo wanted to ignore him, but there was no point.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, his voice coming out raspy and weak.

"Ochi-sensei sent me to check up on you," Ishida responded, as he watched Ichigo walk painstakingly over to the sinks. "I wasn't as shocked as everyone else when you rushed out like that; I'm used to it. But Kuchiki-san mentioned you didn't look very well all day. I must say, that's rather an understatement."

Ichigo glared at him, but when he looked at himself in the broad mirror covering the wall above the sinks, he had to admit it was true. His face was paper-white, which made his hair look even brighter, he was glistening with sweat, and his eyes were bloodshot and had dark circles underneath. Wincing at his reflection, he opened the tab and splashed cool water in his face before taking a mouthful and spitting it out to get rid of the taste of vomit.

"Perhaps you should really go to the infirmary. You look half-dead," Ishida continued.

"Thank you for your concern, but I'll be fine," Ichigo replied scornfully, although his withered look did very little to throw off Ishida, who only chuckled.

"Whatever. I'm not even going to argue, I'm well acquainted with your stubbornness. Just come on, you should get back soon before people have more time to gossip," Ishida said as he held the door open for Ichigo, more out of pity than for courtesy. Ichigo gave him a questioning look, wondering what the hell he meant. But by the smug smile from the bespectacled Quincy, Ichigo knew it had something to do with the rumors. He would've liked to punch him, but he felt too weak.

"He's still alive, sensei," Ishida said as he walked back into class, and nonchalantly sat at his desk. He was shortly followed by a trembling Ichigo.

"Kurosaki, if you're sick and you need to use the restroom, you should request permission first. You know that," Ochi-sensei said looking over her shoulder as she continued to scribble on the chalkboard.

"I'm not sick," Ichigo quickly replied. He suddenly reminded himself of a certain redhead. Feeling everyone's eyes upon him, he dragged himself to his desk and plopped down into his chair. People started whispering. He knew what they were whispering about. But he told himself he didn't care.

He was going to make it through the day. Otherwise, he'd never live it down. People could say whatever they wanted, but he didn't care one bit. It was none of their business anyway.

Oblivious to what people were saying, Orihime sat quietly, doodling absent-mindedly in her notebook while staring out the window with a dreamy gaze. Ichigo stole a quick glance in her direction and chuckled inwardly; she was probably daydreaming, clearly very much detached from her surroundings.

This was one of those occasions in which he was glad she was so flaky.

* * *

It started to rain during last period, and it didn't stop after the bell rang. Everyone who belonged to a club or practiced some other extracurricular activity was glad to not have to go home under this downpour. It rained all afternoon.

Ichigo and Rukia went straight home after school. They made a quick stop by the gym locker rooms to get their hoodies. They didn't help much, however. When they arrived at the clinic, they were both soaking wet, and Ichigo only started sneezing again.

"Well, at least we're already out of the rain and we can dry off," Rukia said as she squeezed some of the water out of her clothes, and took her shoes off at the entrance. Ichigo did the same, sniffling and coughing, and Rukia couldn't help but feel sorry for him. Since she was dead, she couldn't get sick, so she had no clue how bad Ichigo really felt. "Come on, you should change those clothes," she said supportively.

Ichigo nodded with a sigh of relief; he was glad to be home, though. Now he could rest and take it easy and recover from his affliction.

Although he should've known better.

"WELCOME HOME, ICHIGO!"

He was unable to dodge the sumo-style body block his father gave him just as he entered the house. Knocked painfully to the floor, Ichigo landed at Rukia's feet, while Isshin laughed maniacally in front of them.

"There's a lesson for you, son, for leaving your umbrella at home! And now you're dripping water all over the floor!" he said, and continued to laugh.

"RUKIA-CHAN!" he said after a moment, bowing to her politely. "You grace us with your presence during this bleak rainy afternoon!"

Rukia switched to corny girl mode. "Good evening, Kurosaki-san. Glad to see you're doing well, as always," she curtsied with a smile. She looked rather funny doing that since she was soaked from head to toe. Ichigo trembled with rage as he stood back up.

"YOU IDIOT! I FEEL TERRIBLE AND THIS IS HOW YOU WELCOME ME HOME? I'M SOAKED, I FEEL SICK, I'M STARVING AND I'M COLD, AND MY SORRY EXCUSE FOR A FATHER CAN ONLY GREET ME AFTER A VERY LONG DAY BY KNOCKING ME OVER!"

Isshin and Rukia both cringed at Ichigo's outburst. Ichigo just stood there, glaring at his father, water clinging to him everywhere, nostrils flaring. Then he sneezed.

"ACHOO!"

Isshin shielded himself. "My son! I had no idea you were ailing! If I had known you were feeling bad, I wouldn't have administered my powerful body block!" He looked distraught for a moment, but then he glared angrily at Ichigo and thwacked him over his head. "YOU SHOULD'VE WARNED ME!"

Ichigo recovered and looked even madder, as he spun and kicked his father square in the stomach.

"HOW COULD I IF YOU KNOCK ME DOWN AS SOON AS I STEP THROUGH THE DOOR? YOU INCONSIDERATE GIT!"

"BUT THEN YOU SHOULD BE USED TO IT ALREADY!"

They started throwing punches and kicks at each other, while Rukia stood on the sidelines and watched them amusedly but worried about the two of them hurting each other. Karin appeared next to her, followed by Yuzu a moment later, carrying the dinner plates she was going to set at the dining table.

"Shouldn't we perhaps try to stop them?" Rukia asked Karin.

"Oh, they'll stop when they start bleeding. Don't worry," Karin replied, and Yuzu gave her a look.

"Karin, make them stop, would you?" she said to her twin.

"Excuse me; I don't want to get a black eye from trying to cut in."

The fighting suddenly ceased and Ichigo stood over his father, pressing him down with one foot on his back, so that Isshin wouldn't be able to stand up.

"Gaah, I only let you win because you're sick," Isshin managed to say, although his face was squished against the floor.

"Sure, goat chin. Just face it, your son was able to beat you even when he's got the flu," Karin retorted.

"I don't have the flu. It's only a mild cold," Ichigo retorted angrily. Yuzu rolled her eyes.

"Stop it, you two. Daddy, can we please have a peaceful evening? And onii-chan, when you're sick, you're more temperamental and you snap at everyone, but we're not putting up with that. Now go to your room and change into dry clothes. I'll bring you some dinner, and they you should lie down and rest," she said in a determined tone. Ichigo was not about to argue, so he gestured for Rukia to follow him. They went upstairs, Ichigo stomping moodily to his bedroom.

"Could this day possibly get any worse?" he grumbled as he opened the door.

Inside his room, he found several members of the Gotei 13, all in school uniform. Matsumoto was sprawled on his bed flipping through some manga, Ikkaku and Yumichika were sorting through his records, and Renji seemed to be torturing Kon, whose screams of pain were muffled by Renji's hands. Only Hitsugaya, always the cool, collected one, sat patiently on the desk chair, clearly wanting to wait for him without making himself too comfortable.

A vein started popping on Ichigo's forehead.

"I guess you spoke too soon," Rukia whispered sarcastically.

"Hellooooo, Kurosaki-kun!" Matsumoto hollered in a high-pitched voice, waving frantically at him.

"ICHIGO! NEE-SAN! YOU'RE HERE! SAVE ME!" Kon yelled, managing to poke his mouth out through Renji's fingers long enough to call for help.

Ichigo snatched the poor plushie out of the red-haired vice-captain's hands. Disregarding the ranks of the shinigami present, he proceeded to glared at each in turn.

"OUT! EVERYBODY OUT!"

"Hey, that's no way to treat your guests. Especially not the Gotei 13. You should have more respect for your superiors." Yumichika said.

"Who let you guys in?" Ichigo asked, looking like he was having a very difficult time keeping his tone down, or his fists at his sides.

"We let ourselves in," Renji said matter-of-factly.

"Figures," Ichigo replied, unnerved. "Look, guys, I know how everyone's nervous because of what's happening, but it's not like I can do anything about. So could any doomsday-ish discussions about Aizen and Ou Ken and Arrancar wait until, say, tomorrow? I seriously feel like shit," he said in one breath.

"He looks a bit shitty too," Ikkaku whispered to Yumichika.

"That's not why we're here," Matsumoto said, sounding offended. "Can't we pay a friendly visit to a fellow shinigami?"

Ichigo raised an eyebrow, puzzled. "What are you saying? You came here just for the heck of it?"

"We found out you were sick," Hitsugaya replied curtly. Ichigo looked briefly at Rukia inquiringly, but she just shrugged.

"Ichigo's sick?" Kon asked softly, but then he got a mischievous look and a maniacal grin. "FU! Serves you right, you know? This is definitively karmic backfire on you! That's for not letting me reach the Valley of the Gods, for keeping me away from my goddess Orihime! How does it feel, Ichigo? Huh? HUH!"

Ichigo flung Kon away, and the plushie bounced and squeaked painfully against the walls, floor, roof, Ikkaku's head, and finally landed inside the open bottom drawer of the dresser. Ichigo simply kicked the drawer close.

"How did you guys find out I was sick?" he said after a moment.

"Renji informed us. He met your friend Chad at Urahara Shoten just earlier, and he told him," Yumichika said.

Ichigo looked at Renji intently; he wasn't sure if he wanted to kill him or simply beat him up painfully. Ichigo looked at Rukia too, in a desperate attempt to get her to help him, but she just shrugged again. Renji huffed, clearly vexed by Ichigo's outrage.

"Look, believe it or not, we just came to wish you a swift recovery. That's it, no need to get paranoid," he finally said exasperatedly.

"Yes, so remember to take your medicines, get plenty of rest, and no chasing hollows for a bit. You know you can't overexert yourself," Matsumoto said in a syrupy voice, like a cheesy nurse.

"Why not? It's not like my soul's sick too," Ichigo replied. Rukia shook her head.

"Actually, even your soul is affected when your body's sick," Rukia corrected. Ichigo gave her a skeptical look.

"Kuchiki-san's right, you know," Hitsugaya explained. "Health is not only physical, but mental too. Anything that affects your body affects your mind and soul."

Ichigo thought of Orihime, when she explained her method of denial; if she could convince herself that she was not really sick, then maybe she could cheat her body into reacting to that. Ichigo realized, maybe she wasn't so crazy after all.

"Humans are so fragile, aren't they?" Ikkaku started. "Anything can make them sick or tired or both. It's all because of that mind, body and soul relation."

"Are you insinuating that I'm weak?" Ichigo asked harshly, abruptly facing him up.

"Get your germs away from me," Ikkaku said, shoving him away. They were close to starting a stupid scuffle, but Hitsugaya spoke up.

"I don't think you understand the seriousness of the situation, Kurosaki Ichigo," he interjected. "It's been quite calm lately, and we haven't had any sort of major disturbance, for now we're only waiting for what we suspect is going to happen to, well, _happen_."

"So basically we're just sitting around waiting for the shit to hit the fan," Renji cut in.

"Well, that's a very… eloquent way… to put it, but Abarai-fukutaichou is correct," Hitsugaya said, cocking one eyebrow in Renji's direction. Renji smirked.

"So what we mean to say is, get well soon, because we need you to be well, because we will need your help if –or rather, _when_— something happens," Matsumoto said, now solemn and serious. "If you want to fight, you need to be in perfect health; otherwise it's not going to be of much help."

"Gee, thanks for the cheering up. I needed that," Ichigo replied. She seemed unfazed, and broke into a cheesy smile.

"And now, we're leaving so you can rest your frail little body, mind and soul," she said. Ichigo narrowed her eyes at her.

The shinigami got up and one by one exited through the window (hey didn't seem to mind the rain at all). Before Hitsugaya and Matsumoto left, however, Ichigo remembered something.

"Ah, Rangiku-san, Toshirou-san, I've been meaning to ask you," he started hesitantly. The 10th division captain and vice-captain both turned to look at him.

"It's Hitsugaya-taichou," Hitsugaya corrected.

"Yeah, whatever. I was just wondering, have you guys noticed anything different about Inoue?"

"Different?" Hitsugaya inquired.

"Has she said anything peculiar at all?" Ichigo tried to elaborate. "I mean, more peculiar than usual?"

"About what specifically?" Matsumoto asked.

"About something that might have… happened while she was staying at the clinic," Ichigo muttered. He was worried he would start blushing.

"She spoke about little people who tied her down on her bed," Hitsugaya replied. "Is that what you're referring to?"

Ichigo sweat-dropped. The way Hitsugaya said it, Ichigo might actually believe the captain found it was the most normal thing in the world.

"Never mind," he said. He was sure that either one of them (especially Matsumoto) would remember something about a kiss, if Orihime had mentioned such a thing. Matsumoto would be all over him, teasing and squealing, or at least that's what he supposed would be the most likely scenario. In that case, Orihime probably hadn't mentioned anything. He wondered what that meant.

"Are you alright, Kurosaki-kun?" Matsumoto asked.

"No, I'm not. I need to sleep," Ichigo replied. The shinigami looked at each other then waved goodbye, and followed the others out the window. Ichigo ambled over to his bed and sat down, pulling his wet socks off his feet. The hardwood floor felt cold.

"Talk about a friendly visit," he said to Rukia.

"I thought it was nice of them," she replied.

"You're not serious, are you? That was probably the scariest, most cryptic visit I've ever gotten," he countered. He stood up and walked over to his closet. "Even scarier than the time I met you, cuz we both know how that went." He took off his shirt, and he had started to pull off the T-shirt he had underneath, when he realized Rukia was present. With a groan, he climbed into his closet and closed the door for privacy.

"Because, okay, you were on duty, getting rid of this huge hollow that nearly killed us all. But these guys are creepy. I mean, you don't drop in on a sick person or whatever without a heads-up, especially if you're not even going to use the front door," he said, his voice muffled slightly through the closed door.

Rukia observed this with a comical expression. "Why are you so feisty?"

"I'm not!" he yelled.

Rukia rolled her eyes. "I guess Yuzu's right then," she said with a chuckle.

"Ugh, as if I didn't have enough of Aizen and Hueco Mundo, and Hollows and Arrancar and Vizards and all that, now I get a cold," he continued talking, and Rukia had to strain her ears to listen.

"Well, I guess hanging out with a sick Inoue has its consequences," she answered. "But you seemed to really enjoy it," she added in a playful tone. She could almost feel the heat rising to his face, and she heard him scoff.

"You know what? Why don't you—OUCH!" he cut himself off, and Rukia heard a loud thump as he did.

"Are you okay in there?" she asked, walking to the closet.

"Yeah, I just slipped and hit my already aching head really freaking hard. I'm perfect."

Rukia ignored the sarcasm. "Need any help?"

"If you open this door, consider yourself dead, you hear? I'm completely naked in here."

"Oooooh!" Rukia teased.

"Shut up. You sound like a five-year-old," he said, and after a few more thumps and bumps, he continued talking. "And, on top of the cold, there's Keigo and his stupid rumor that's all over school now. I'm telling you, I will gladly give him a soul burial one of these days, just so I don't have to put up with him anymore. I mean, can you believe him?"

"The last thing I heard was that Chizuru was doing voodoo on you for kissing Orihime, and that's really why you're sick," Rukia commented, smirking. "Or something equally twisted."

Ichigo finally came out of the closet, wearing a pair of worn out track pants he sometimes used to sleep, and a black T-shirt. "Rukia, you don't actually believe those rumors, do you?" he asked, trying to sound incredulous.

Rukia didn't reply. If she said anything, she knew somehow she would blow her cover, because, as Renji continuously reminded her, she was a terrible liar.

"Are you listening to me?"

Rukia looked at Ichigo, who was staring back at her curiously, but just as she was about to say something (anything), there was a knock on the door.

"What are you guys doing up here?" Yuzu asked, coming in with a tray.

"Um, Rukia and I were just talking. Why?" Ichigo replied.

"You two sure make a lot of noise just talking. It sounded like there were about eight people in here," Yuzu said. Ichigo and Rukia looked at each other; clearly Yuzu could be perceptive, but at the same time, very oblivious.

"Daddy sends these medicines: antihistaminic and something for your stomach. And here's some dinner. I'll come back in a bit to check if you have a fever."

"Ah, thanks, Yuzu."

"Rukia-chan, dinner is ready downstairs," Yuzu said to Rukia.

"Ah, sure, thanks. I just need to change," Rukia replied curtly. She followed Yuzu out of the room, but before she left, she turned one last time to Ichigo.

"Sweet dreams, prince charming."

Ichigo gave her the strangest questioning look, and Rukia smirked before closing the door behind her. He thought about it for a moment, and decided Rukia was either being weird just poking fun at him, or something told him she might actually believe the rumors.

"Prince charming? You! Nee-san _is_ making fun of you. Definitively," Kon said, popping out from inside the dresser.

"Shut up."

Ichigo reached for the pills his dad had sent him, popped them into his mouth and gulped them down with some water. Then he lay back on his bed.

"Uh, are you gonna eat that?" Kon asked, pointing to the food on the tray.

"I'm not hungry."

"More for me, then."

Ichigo watched as the plush lion disgustingly stuffed generous amounts of food into his mouth. He shook his head and sighed. Unfortunately, Yuzu hadn't brought him anything for his headache, but he decided hopefully a bit of sleep would make it go away. With a loud sigh, he rolled over onto his right side and pulled the covers up to his chin, hoping he could relax and fall asleep. It would be difficult, there were so many thoughts running around his head, he doubted he would get any real rest. So instead, he just lay there, staring out the window at the falling rain, his eyes glazing over, and he slowly relaxed. There were always some good, soothing memories in the rain.

* * *

A few blocks away, inside a small flat, Orihime greeted Hitsugaya and Matsumoto as they came in, shaking water off their umbrellas. She sat by the window, with an open book on her lap, but she was barely doing any reading, as she just watched the droplets pelting the windowpanes and then slowly making their way down the glass, kind of like tears, while the rain continued to fall.

* * *

Part two coming sooner than you expect. Like, right about… now.

**-Nariko the Seer a.k.a Deathberry15**


	2. Flowers

Because of the length of the story, I decided to split it in two chapters. Enjoy!

Title for this chapter was inspired by this great quirky song by Emilie Simon, called "Flowers". Really good, I love the lyrics. And the video is so much fun. Everyone should definitively check it out.

_I want to buy you flowers / It's such a shame you're a boy / Cuz when you are not a girl / Nobody buys you flowers._

It's all about flowers when it comes to Orihime. I think it's fitting. Don't you?

Disclaimer: Again, I don't own anything but the main plot, and that's not much to be proud of. I'm such a geek.

* * *

**Rumors – by Deathberry15**

**2: Flowers**

Ichigo would've liked to be dead at the moment. He had spent all night tossing and turning in bed, unable to sleep, feeling hot and stuffy. Nevertheless, he had awoken this morning wrapped in extra blankets, sweating and shivering non-stop. His father had to examine him. As expected, he had a fever, most likely caused by the soaking he'd gotten the previous day in the rain. Plus, he still had a very upset stomach, which had not allowed him to eat anything since breakfast yesterday (although the lack of food in his stomach did not prevent him from throwing up several times), he was still sneezing, his nose was completely blocked, and he seemed to be getting a dry cough (caused by having to breath through his mouth). Isshin, of course, had forbidden him to get out of bed, which Ichigo appreciated, considering his body ached worse than ever, even compared to the beatings and exhaustion he had endured in Soul Society.

He was actually surprised at how quickly this cold had landed him in bed, feeling weak and achy, while it seemed to have taken Orihime much longer to feel as bad as that. In fact, he had never felt so terrible in his life. He was never a sickly person; in fact, he barely ever got so much as a stomachache. Could all of this really have been caused by having kissed Orihime?

"Breakfast, onii-chan."

"What is that?"

"Chicken broth."

"Great."

He eyed the bowl of murky brown liquid steaming as Yuzu placed it on his nightstand, and wrinkled his nose. Even the smell, the look of it, everything, made him queasy. But his stomach kept making growling noises, given that he was as hungry as hell; but the prospect of eating was the least appealing.

"Daddy says that you should feel better if you take all your medicines and get good rest and try to eat," Yuzu said. She and Karin were saying goodbye to him and checking up on him, as they were ready to go to school. Rukia walked in a moment later, dressed in the school uniform.

"Whatever it takes to help me stop feeling so much like shit," Ichigo said.

"Language, onii-chan."

Ichigo ignored Yuzu, and noticed Karin was giving him an odd look. "What?" he asked.

Karin just shook her head and smirked. "Oh, I was just thinking," she began, "well, we had a very sick guest last week, and during her stay, we were all equally exposed to her cold or flu or whatever it was."

"Uh-huh," Ichigo mumbled, suspecting where she was headed.

"I'm just surprised that, even then, _you_ somehow caught her cold, but no one else did. I mean, it makes you wonder..." she trailed off, grinning knowingly.

Ichigo narrowed his eyes. "What are you insinuating?"

"Nothing, nothing," Karin said, but in a sing-song voice. She was still smirking.

"Onii-chan _did_ spend more time with Orihime-chan than the rest of us did," Yuzu interjected. "They had to do homework together."

"That's true," Ichigo agreed.

"Right. Okay," Karin responded.

"Karin, stop teasing Ichigo."

"Yeah, don't be a smart-ass, Karin. It doesn't suit you."

"Well, I've said this before, but just so you remember, you should learn to let go of big brother, Yuzu. Cuz, you know, he's getting interested in… other things."

Ichigo would've liked to kick Karin right there. "Karin, for crying out loud, get over yourself."

Karin chuckled mischievously and headed for the door. "Come on, Yuzu. We'll be late. Bye, Ichi-nii."

"Onii-chan, get better, okay?" Yuzu said, following Karin. Ichigo huffed as his sisters left, shaking his head in disbelief. For being his baby sister, Karin had some nerve acting like that toward him. She was becoming too clever for her own good.

"What's with that look?" he asked when he noticed Rukia was still standing there, with a smile upon her face.

"I just think it's funny how the twins care so much for you they sometimes actually seem older than you," she responded.

"Well, Yuzu does seem more motherly. It's always been like that ever since mom died."

"But Karin can really read you like a book."

"No, she can't. I'm not a freaking book," Ichigo snapped.

"Well, she seems more connected with you. And it seems to me she's more perceptive of your feelings and thoughts than you realize," Rukia commented.

"She hasn't perceived anything. You don't even know what you're talking about."

Rukia sighed and rolled her eyes. "Denial," she muttered and motioned to leave.

"Hey, come back here and say what you really want to say," Ichigo called after here.

"Ok, now it's _your_ turn to get over yourself," Rukia replied, turning sharply and pointing an accusing finger at Ichigo.

Ichigo narrowed his eyes. "Rukia, you're making no sense."

"Oh, am I?" Rukia said in a mysterious tone of voice that actually sounded more comical than mysterious. "Get well soon, Kurosaki-kun," she added with a smirk.

Ichigo took a deep breath. Everyone around him was either going insane or they already were.

* * *

"He's not coming to school today?"

Rukia had not been expecting this sort of reaction from Orihime; the girl looked absolutely shocked. Tatsuki had asked Rukia how come Ichigo hadn't shown up. Rukia hadn't even meant for Orihime to hear. But the bubbly red-head, although very flaky and naïve most of the time, could be very perceptive when she wanted to. It seemed that she was at her most receptive when it was something that concerned Ichigo. Rukia felt bad; Ichigo probably hadn't wanted Orihime to know. But Rukia couldn't take it back now, and probably Orihime would've found out anyway.

"Sorry, no," Rukia explained. "He was really sick last night, and this morning he just woke up even worse. His dad told him to stay home."

"I didn't even know he was sick," Orihime said, still shocked. Rukia nodded.

"Yeah, he's pretty bad… like you were."

"Then better stay home. I don't want him to bring any viruses to school," Tatsuki said, half-jokingly.

"So you're going to be bringing him the schoolwork, then?" Orihime asked. She sounded a bit disappointed.

"Uh, I guess," Rukia replied with a shrug.

"I guess everyone should be more careful. If there's really a virus going around, I don't want to catch it. You should be careful, Kuchiki-san, considering you live with him. You could easily catch something," Tatsuki advised her.

Rukia giggled and bowed her head briefly. "Arisawa-san is very considerate. I'll keep that in mind, thank you."

Just then, the bell rang to announce that students should go to their respective classrooms. As they headed toward 1-3, Orihime pulled Tatsuki to one side of the hallway, lagging behind the rest of their classmates.

"It's my fault he's sick," she mumbled to her friend, once they were out of earshot.

"Orihime, don't say that," Tatsuki replied. "He lives in a clinic. He could've caught the cold from anyone."

Orihime seemed to want to say something else, but she didn't. From the expression on her friend's face, and her reddening ears, Tatsuki had to wonder if those silly rumors going around might just be true. But Orihime would've mentioned something already.

It was such an unlikely scenario, anyway. Tatsuki knew her friend liked Ichigo a lot, and lately Ichigo had become friendlier toward her. But whoever could imagine Ichigo would actually go as far as kissing her, out of the blue?

"I should go visit him."

Tatsuki looked at Orihime. "Maybe you shouldn't. You just recovered from the cold, and he's got it now. You could catch it again," she said.

"Tatsuki-chan, it's the least I can do. He was so considerate with me when I was sick. I haven't thanked him properly," Orihime answered determinedly.

"Okay, that's understandable," Tatsuki nodded.

Orihime suddenly clapped her hands excitedly. "Oh, I know! I'll bake him cookies!"

"You—what?"

"It'll make him feel better," the red-head added. "Sweets can always make you feel better."

Tatsuki cringed. The idea of Orihime trying to cook _anything_ to make _anyone_ feel better was not very plausible. And Ichigo was already not doing well when his stomach was concerned, so maybe it wasn't a very good idea.

"Do you think he'd like chocolate fudge?" Orihime asked.

"Chocolate fudge?" Tatsuki asked hesitantly. Oh, well, that didn't sound so bad. "Well, I guess he should. I mean, who doesn't like chocolate?"

"Ah, I have the perfect recipe. My brother found it once."

"Alright then, that's not such a bad idea," Tatsuki said. "But, just in case, I think I should come with you and make sure you get the proper ingredients. Cuz, you know, when you cook, the way you add random stuff, your food sometimes turns out…" (_Gross? Freaky? Disgusting?_) "… a bit too creative."

Orihime blinked a couple of times, wondering what her friend meant, but then disregarded that with a smile. "Thank you, Tatsuki-chan. If we buy plenty of the ingredients, we can make lots and lots of cookies for us to stuff our faces later today."

"That sounds like fun," Tatsuki did her best to smile. Hopefully things would turn out alright.

"Okay. We'll go after school, then," Orihime said cheerfully, and she linked arms with Tatsuki and led her into the classroom.

* * *

Ichigo wiped his forehead from the cold sweat breaking. He heard his stomach rumble and gave a sigh. He was still unable to choke down anything solid, and his throat hurt a lot even when he was just gulping down liquid.

"Stupid freezing rain," he mumbled.

After the twins and Rukia left for school, Isshin came upstairs, and thankfully remembered his son was in a terrible state so that he wouldn't stand a kung-fu style wake up call. So he just checked his temperature, which was quite high, gave him some acetaminophen and recommended a cool shower. After another hour of sleep, Ichigo managed to get out of bed long enough to shower, change into fresh pajama pants and a plain white T-shirt, then had to snuggle back in bed, because he felt lightheaded and couldn't manage to walk around without bumping into things. So the rest of the day, and until the girls were back, he did nothing but sleep.

Grumbling, he tossed yet another manga aside and reached for a book. He was bored mindless, but at least it was doing something. It was an attempt to keep his mind off… other things.

Ichigo couldn't stop thinking about Inoue, wondering whether she would remember him kissing her or not. He felt embarrassed, but not the same kind of embarrassed as when Kon used his body and kissed her and Tatsuki, during last school term. That had been different. He had been a different person. She was different now, too.

The issue was that, if Keigo had actually started a rumor about it, then it must have been because Ichigo gave some sort of sign that the taunting affected him at some level. And there were only two possible reasons why it would bother him: it was either completely false, or it was true. Either way, Keigo wouldn't miss a chance to tease his friend about being romantically linked with one of the best-looking girls at school. And either way, it was still embarrassing for Ichigo.

God, he hated gossip.

He slammed the book down onto his lap and sighed long and loud.

"Why are you in such a bad mood? I thought you said you were starting to feel better," Rukia asked, annoyed by his constant groaning and grumbling. She was sitting cross-legged on his desk chair, reading some of his manga (and some other, which Ichigo supposed she had stolen from his sisters' room).

"If you consider 'better' the fact that my temperature has lowered from 40 to 39.5 °C, and that I haven't had to throw up in the last, oh, 45 minutes. Yeah, that's real progress," he said, his voice rather hoarse.

"Don't get cynical with me. It's not like it's my fault," Rukia replied.

"Sorry. I'm just going crazy lying here doing nothing. I can barely keep my eyes open, and whether I'm conscious or completely knocked out, I still feel awful."

Rukia gave her a sympathetic look for the umpteenth time since yesterday. "Do you want me to leave so you can sleep?"

Ichigo shook his head stubbornly. "No, I don't want to sleep anymore. Now can we please have a normal conversation so that I can stay awake?"

"Well, you can barely keep your eyes open," Rukia pointed out. "I think you should get some more sleep, considering you're high on antihistaminic, and you sound funny talking anyway. And I also think I should have better things to do than watch you fighting to stay awake, and doing very poorly at it."

He was about to reply, but he felt an itch in his throat, so he began to cough. Rukia handed him the glass of water on his nightstand, and he took a few sips.

"I seriously wish I was dead right now," he said.

"Ha! That's an ironic thing to say," Rukia said with a chuckle. "You're a substitute shinigami. For you, it's like death is so close… and yet so far."

If looks could kill, Rukia would've died… all over again… or whatever. "You've got a dark sense of humor, you know, for a dead person." He thought for a moment. "Are you actually trying to be funny?"

"No, I was pointing out the irony. I don't even try to be funny. And I must say, the same thing seems to go for you."

Ichigo would've liked to kick her, but he had no energy. Instead he gave a hoarse laugh, which only triggered more coughing. He closed his eyes and laid back onto the pillows, sighing tiredly. The truth was, he wasn't really in the mood to talk either. He wasn't in the mood for anything, really. He just wanted to feel fine, so that he could do whatever he wanted. But he couldn't, and that really pissed him off.

Most people enjoyed the lying-around-doing-nothing-but-sleep part of being sick. Right now, he felt more like tackling a Hollow than lying around relaxingly. But he knew that, in order to get better so he could later get up and go back to tackling Hollows, he needed to lie around relaxingly for a few days. And that mere thought made it all the less relaxing. He wasn't the type of person who could sit back calmly and wait for things to happen around him. He hated being still.

And all the stillness brought even more thoughts about things he didn't really want to think about. If he let his mind wander, he would think back to the kiss. In his sleep, his dreams would be plagued with it; he would see himself from a distance, kissing Orihime, over and over again. And he tried to get himself to stop, to avoid all the complications that came with it, but as much as he called out warnings, his other self wouldn't listen and just go ahead and do it anyway. It actually looked strange from a distance. He noticed he would have a funny look on his face when he was leaning down to kiss the sleepy red-head. It looked like a twisted version of Sleeping Beauty. But it was hard to look away.

The one fact that was the most mortifying to him was the fact that he didn't know what pushed him into it. Ichigo had no excuses for having done it. He still couldn't figure out how he felt after that. It was a big mistake. If there was a chance that she did remember after all, she probably thought he was a creep or something.

But in spite of all that, in spite of the embarrassment and the mortification and the doubts, one thought still bugged him.

He had liked it.

In fact, the more he thought about it, the more he wished he could somehow do it again (apart from the occasions in which he dreamed he wanted to stop himself).

That's why he was scared over whether Orihime could remember or not. If she did, then the odds of things becoming awkward between them were high. And it bugged him a lot. He wouldn't want to ruin their friendship.

Not that he would admit it ever, perhaps, but he liked her. He didn't feel the same way toward her as he did with other girls. Tatsuki was his childhood best friend, and even if they still got well along, she was just another girl. As for Rukia, she and Ichigo were so much alike that they barely got along, but they were true friends because of everything they had gone through together. But Orihime… it was different. He wanted to protect her, she was constantly at his side, wanting to help, to support him, always trusting him. Maybe, because of the way the way they had been thrown together, she meant more to him than he had yet realized. Maybe he was coming to regard her as more than just a friend; he had come to see her as more than just another girl in his class.

Maybe that was the reason he kissed her. But this was the first time he had considered all that, considered how he felt toward her, and it drove him half-mad to try to figure out what exactly he felt. More so since he didn't know if she might feel the same way.

It was all too confusing, though. He got a headache every time he went into these bouts of pondering over it.

He must have fallen asleep, at least for a few minutes, because when he opened his eyes, Rukia was gone.

* * *

Orihime and Tatsuki left the market after about half an hour of shopping. They talked animatedly about what they were going to do later that evening, and Orihime told her about the recipe. But as they neared Orihime's flat, she realized Hitsugaya and Matsumoto might be there, and Orihime would not know how to explain their presence to Tatsuki. So as much as she didn't want to lie to her friend, or ask her to leave (she would've enjoyed Tatsuki's company), Orihime had to tell her she really wanted to do this on her own.

Tatsuki seemed fine with it: she had seen Orihime cook before, and the girl truly knew how to make a mess. Although she would've liked to spend time with her friend, and thought it best to supervise her in any case (considering the hazards of using an oven, and how clumsy Orihime could be). But something told her not to disturb her friend at a moment like this. It was her own thing to bake cookies for her crush; Tatsuki definitively shouldn't intervene. Orihime still promised that she would make enough cookie dough so that Tatsuki could come over later in the evening, and they could bake more cookies for themselves.

On her way home, Tatsuki thought amusedly about the dream Orihime had been telling her about, a dream she'd had during her bout of fever at the Kurosaki clinic, and which sounded like a bizarre version of Sleeping Beauty. There had been little people, who tied her down to her bed, and then she was in a field, and in the midst of the field there was a castle, and she went inside, but instead of pricking her finger with the needle thing of a spinning wheel, she somehow slipped on a banana peel, thus upsetting a nearby table that had a bottle of pills, and two antihistaminic pills fell into her mouth, knocking her into a deep sleep. Tatsuki had started laughing at this point, but Orihime had unabashedly gone on to explain that, next thing she knew, she was on a bed inside the castle, unable to wake up; and Tatsuki, Rukia and another little girl (did she say her name was Yachiru?) were fairies who watched over her, and Chizuru was the evil witch who turned into a fire-breathing dragon (here Tatsuki let out the loudest snort of laughter, causing the people in the market to stare at her oddly); and Ichigo, of course, was the prince charming, who came to save Orihime and wake her out of her sleeping spell with a kiss. Except that, for some reason, it wouldn't work, so Ichigo had to kiss her again and again and again, causing Chizuru to chase him away, trying to burn him. When Orihime was done telling her story, Tatsuki was nearly in tears and her stomach ached from laughing so much; it had never occurred to her to picture Ichigo as a fairy tale prince, though picturing Chizuru as an evil witch/dragon was not so strange.

Tatsuki shook her head and chuckled. Whatever could've brought on this seemingly normal fantasy, when Orihime was usually so odd, she didn't know; but those weird rumors going around school, mixed up with Ichigo's sudden sickness, and the fact that he had blushed in embarrassment when Keigo had teased him about perhaps having made out with Orihime, it all made Tatsuki wonder where the inspiration for such a dream really came from. And then, of course, she had to smirk.

* * *

Orihime opened the door to her flat, only to find Matsumoto dancing around the living room to a French album from Orihime's collection, singing along to it (and not doing a very good job, considering she didn't know French), while Hitsugaya sat on the couch, trying to ignore her.

"Matsumoto, would you stop it? You don't even know what you're saying!" Hitsugaya said, finally losing his nerve.

"Who cares? You just make up the lyrics as you go along," Matsumoto chirped, as she continued to dance (another thing she was not very good at).

"Hi, Toshirou-kun! Hi, Rangiku-san!" Orihime said cheerfully, waving at them. Finally taking notice of her arrival, Hitsugaya stood up and gave a polite bow, while Matsumoto "danced" over to her and took her hands and tried to get her to dance too.

"Good afternoon, Inoue-san, and for the last time, it's Hitsugaya-taichou," the silver-haired boy said, crossing his arms in an exasperated manner. "Could you please turn the music off so that Matsumoto will shut up? I can't figure out your record player, and she won't tell me how she managed to make it work."

"Awwww!" Matsumoto pouted disappointedly as Orihime complied with Hitsugaya and switched her CD player off. Hitsugaya gave her a grateful look.

"Guess what? I'm baking cookies. I have a great recipe for chocolate fudge cookies with chips that my brother used to prepare all the time," Orihime announced.

"Cookies! Yum!" hollered Matsumoto like a little girl. Hitsugaya frowned at his vice-captain.

"How come you're baking chocky-whatever cookies?"

Matsumoto patter her captain on the head. "He doesn't even know what chocolate is. It's tragic, I tell you. Sometimes you've got to wonder if he's a real boy."

"Unlike you, I don't feel the urge to constantly stuff my face with human food just because I'm in the living world."

"Are you insinuating that I'm a glutton?"

"No, of course not. That would be an understatement."

Matsumoto's face suddenly scrunched up with unbelievable anger, and she seemed ready to literally chew her captain's head off, so Orihime decided to cut in, lest Hitsugaya would have to find out the true effects of daring to call a woman 'glutton'.

"If you guys don't mind, I could use some help. I do want these cookies to be just perfect."

"Of course we'll help," Matsumoto replied cheerfully.

"You only want to help because you're hoping you'll get to lick the spoon or something," Hitsugaya responded, looking knowingly at the woman.

"First of all, you can stop with the glutton references," Matsumoto replied, towering over the white-haired shinigami, who didn't look fazed at all. "That is _not_ why I want to help. And second, why would I want to lick the spoon so badly, when we're having cookies after we're done?"

"Actually, this first batch of cookies is not for us," Orihime interrupted.

Matsumoto raised an eyebrow. "Oh? For who, then?"

"For Kurosaki-kun."

Hitsugaya and Matsumoto actually looked at each other for a split second, then back at her, tight-lipped and with oddly blank expressions. Orihime didn't know what it was about, the wordless exchange that went between them, but whatever it was, she just pretended to not have noticed. Though it made her feel excluded.

"Um, I don't know if you guys know, but he's really sick, so I was planning to visit him today, bring him cookies as kind of a 'get well' gift. But it's mostly a thank you gift for having been so nice to me while I was sick."

Hitsugaya only nodded in understanding, but Matsumoto went all glassy-eyed and broke into a huge smile.

"Aww, Orihime! That is so sweet! You want to make him a little present to thank him for taking care of you." She hugged Orihime. "Of course I'll help you!"

Hitsugaya stared with wide eyes as the two women started chattering happily while arranging the ingredients utensils they would need. He reluctantly took a seat, basically just to watch. He didn't think it was a very good idea to leave these two alone while they were handling electric appliances and an oven. Seeing as he was the sanest person present at the moment, he thought it best to supervise and make sure they wouldn't burn down the flat.

But first, he thought it best to make a certain phone call.

* * *

Ichigo opened his eyes reluctantly, after twenty minutes of just lying there in bed, hoping to fall asleep again. He was tired of sleeping, of chugging pills, of drinking so much fluid he'd make sloshing sounds every time he moved, and of doing nothing. He couldn't get out of bed, though, because his body ached all over. The remote control had disappeared a long time ago, and he felt too weak to get up and turn the set on himself, so he couldn't even watch the telly.

So instead he was forced to lie in bed endlessly, looking up at the ceiling drowsily, sleeping long antihistaminic-induced naps, and breathing through his mouth.

God, this sucked.

He grabbed the nasal spray and sprayed twice into each nostril, waited for a bit, and then blew his nose with a tissue. There, he could breathe again at last.

"Rukia? Are you anywhere near?" he called out. He could talk normal again, too, although he still sounded a bit funny.

After a few seconds, it seemed that Rukia wouldn't reply. Still, he thought he caught a faint sound coming from the closet. But why would Rukia be in the closet? She didn't crash there anymore. Before he could will himself out of bed to check what the heck was making that noise, there was a knock on the door.

"Onii-chan, you have a visitor."

Yuzu poked her head into the room with a smile and looked at him. "Are you decent?" she asked quietly. Ichigo raised an eyebrow. Of course he wasn't decent. He looked as best as he could manage, considering the circumstances.

"Who is it, Yuzu?"

He had expected Keigo, coming to annoy him, Mizuiro, Chad, even Ishida. Heck, he even would've been okay with the Gotei 13 visiting him again. But no.

"Good evening, Kurosaki-kun!" Orihime said as Yuzu led her inside. Ichigo's eyes nearly popped out of his head. At this very moment, when he was in such a poor state, looking and feeling like he had just been in battle, Orihime was the last person he actually wanted to encounter.

"Ah, good evening… Inoue," he said, hoping he didn't sound nervous. He pulled the covers higher up his torso, in a futile attempt to hide his wrinkled pajamas, and his miserable state.

"Look, onii-chan! Look at this! She brought you a present! Isn't it sweet?" Yuzu exclaimed happily as she went over to her big brother, carrying a white box in her hands. She handed it to him, and then leaned in to whisper.

"Don't worry. Daddy's in the clinic with a patient. He hasn't found out she's here. Karin will make sure he doesn't come near."

"Oh, o… okay," Ichigo replied softly, his mouth dry.

"I'll leave you two alone," Yuzu said, smiling so big that Ichigo feared she would sprain a facial muscle. She closed the door when she left, and Ichigo gulped.

There was a moment of awkward silence. He heard it once a gain; a scuffling sound coming from somewhere in his closet. But Orihime didn't seem to hear it.

"So, how are you feeling?" she said after a pause, and approached the bed slowly, hands pressed together on her lap.

"Good, thank you. Well, not really 'good', but better," he said, clearing his throat. Man, was his throat sore.

"I'm glad. I was really worried about you when Kuchiki-san told us you weren't coming to school today. I mean, everyone was. It sounded like you were really doing badly," she said as she sat down on the edge of his bed, near his knees.

Ichigo was listening to her, but at the same time some other thousand random thoughts were running through his mind; he hadn't been expecting any visitors, much less Inoue Orihime. Ichigo suddenly felt very self-conscious about the way he looked, disheveled and sleepy. Did he have bed-head? Well, his hair was always all over the place. Was his breath okay? Thank God he hadn't been so lazy so as to not shower. Still, his nose was red and raw, his eyes were most likely bloodshot and with dark circles underneath, and he still sounded funny. At least when Orihime had been hanging around his house, looking and sounding pretty much the same, it had been rather cute. In his case, he doubted anyone would think it was mildly attractive.

He had never felt so out of shape and disgruntled, not even on the occasions when he lay on the dirty pavement, with multiple stab injuries, his shihakushö a mess, the kimono bloodied and torn, after an encounter with a hollow.

"How are _you_ feeling, Inoue? You seem fully recovered now," he asked.

"I am, thank you! I'm perfect," she replied with a huge smile. "And it's all thanks to you."

"Me? I doubt it. I… didn't do anything."

"Are you kidding? If it hadn't been for you, I don't think I would've recovered so quickly. I would probably still be lying in my bed, feeling awful. If you hadn't visited me at home, and called your dad, then he wouldn't have suggested that I come to stay here. And then I wouldn't have gotten any medication, or eaten Yuzu-chan's super-healing miso soup, or gotten any schoolwork done with you and Kuchiki-san, and I would've been very bored and very lonely."

Ichigo's default frown softened slightly, and a smile tugged at the corners of his lips. Orihime beamed at him. She was not used to making him smile.

"I wanted to see you today, to see how you were doing with this nasty cold," she continued. "Also, I hadn't thanked you properly. Yesterday, I don't know why, I was kind of embarrassed."

"Embarrassed? Why?" he asked.

"Because… I don't know, I guess… I guess I still felt a bit like I had imposed too much on you and your family."

"Don't be silly, you were not imposing anything."

"You're always so kind and thoughtful, Kurosaki-kun."

Ichigo made a sound like a scoff. "Hardly. You're the one visiting me, even knowing you might catch this cold again, and you even brought me a gift."

"It's only a small gesture," she said, waving it off modestly.

"It doesn't matter. It's still very thoughtful," he murmured.

"It's half-'thank you', half-'get well soon' present," Orihime chirped.

Ichigo examined the box. It was a plain white fancy square box, like the ones bakeries use for special cakes and pastries. It was tied with a simple dark purple ribbon, and a purple morning glory blossom was tied to the little bow at the center. He couldn't help but blush.

"You don't have to open it right now, if you don't want to. Maybe later, or whenever you feel like it, really," Orihime said, sounding a bit nervous.

"No, it's okay. I'll open it now."

He carefully undid the bow and pulled the flower off, leaving it on his lap. He took the lid off and stared in surprise. At the realization that it was food, he felt his stomach flip. He was very hungry, but the thought of eating something Orihime made was a bit preoccupying. The cookies looked quite normal, thought, and really delicious. But one could never be too sure.

"Rangiku-san and Toshirou-kun helped me," Orihime said happily.

Ichigo felt even more uncertain now. "They look really good," he simply answered.

"I hope you like them. This is a special recipe. My brother used it all the time when we made cookies. Even if he can't make them anymore, I always use this recipe, and they taste almost the same," Orihime explained. "In any case, chocolate fudge cookies always bring me a sort of comfort, because they remind me of my brother. Which is why I bake these cookies whenever I'm feeling down; they always make me feel better."

Ichigo gave her a sympathetic look. It was difficult to think of Orihime as the sort of person who still would sometimes feel sad or even depressed; she was always so cheerful and happy. Still, he had seen her cry a few times, and he knew she was hard on herself when there was something she could not accomplish, when she wanted to help but didn't know how. It still surprised him to learn she would ever feel lonely or sad, but it was only logical; after everything she had gone through in life, especially losing the only family she'd ever had, she was entitled to feel down sometimes. In fact, now that he thought about it, it was even more surprising to see how she could be so happy most of the time.

And Ichigo was the opposite. He was hardly ever joyful. He was used to it. It was his normal state of mind. But sometimes it was exhausting. Although he doubted he could ever maintain such high spirits as Orihime, all the time. He then realized how they were so different, and yet they shared so much.

He looked at the cookies again. _Might as well give it a try,_ he thought. He forced a smile and picked one of the cookies, then offered one to Orihime, who smiled back and grabbed one as well. Braving the idea of her customary cooking, and his disgruntled stomach, he took a bite. The soft baked dough practically melted in his mouth as he chewed, and from the very first taste of rich chocolate, he couldn't help but smile.

He tried to say some words of praise, or anything at all, but all that came out was a low, pleasured "mmmmmm..."

She just continued to grin as she bit down on her own cookie. "I'm glad you like them."

Ichigo didn't know if it might have been true, the whole thing about the chocolate cookies bringing comfort; maybe they did. Or maybe it was just seeing her grin like that. But he was very glad she came to see him; he did actually feel better. He put the lid back on the box and placed it on his nightstand.

"I had fun last week, by the way."

Ichigo looked at Orihime curiously. "You had fun while you were sick? How is that even possible? Being sick is no picnic. Or at least not from my point of view."

"I know it's not," Orihime said with a laugh. "But I could've had a worse time."

She seemed to scoot closer to him, their hips kind of grazing together through the fabric of the bed sheets and blanket. "I know you're really feeling bad. Kuchiki-san told us, and I got very worried. Mostly because knowing you, you definitively wouldn't enjoy lying around doing mostly nothing."

She seemed hesitant for a moment, but then she reached for his hand and held it in her own. Ichigo tried not to reflect his surprise on his face.

"You're such a caring person, you often go through a lot of trouble and sacrifice a lot to help others, especially the ones you care about," she continued naturally. "I think that sometimes, being like that is not very good. Because you still get tired. It's wonderful that you are strong and caring of other, but it's also important to take care of yourself. And, Kurosaki-kun, you don't ever seem to take care of yourself. Ever."

He was shocked at the impact of her words. She spoke not in a harsh, scolding tone or anything. In fact, he couldn't remember ever having seen Orihime angry or anything similar. Still, he had never heard her speak as firmly as now.

"Toshirou-kun mentioned you were upset because they told you it was best to get rest and not chase Hollows," she continued. Ichigo was going to respond, but she continued before he could. "Kurosaki-kun, promise me you'll listen to them."

She gazed at him. It amazed him how he could be so brave as to stand in front of a Menos Grande or an Arrancar and not quiver the slightest bit. But Orihime holding his hand gently could make him tingly and weak all over, and cause his mouth to go dry.

He had kissed her. Did she remember that he had kissed her? Did he want her to remember?

_Say something. Anything. Just spit it out, dammit._

But he couldn't will himself to. He felt too strange. It was all too damn weird.

What exactly was so weird? The prospect of liking a classmate? And not just any classmate, but Inoue Orihime, sweet, kind, caring, attractive, always by his side, baked him cookies, nearly got killed to help him out?

"What's wrong?" he asked. For a split second, he caught a pained look on her face.

"I just… I'm really sorry."

"Sorry for what?"

"It seems that I'm always getting you in trouble," she said sadly. "You always protect me when I'm in danger, and you end up in worse trouble yourself."

Ichigo didn't know what to say. He didn't like Orihime to think like that. After all, he had made a promise to her, as he constantly reminded her, that he would protect her, no matter what. Whether it was mortal danger or a mere sickness, he felt inclined to keep her safe. That was just the way he thought it should be.

She looked down at her lap, wringing her hands on the fabric of her flowered skirt, like she usually did when she felt nervous or inadequate. Ichigo suddenly wished very hard he could read her thoughts, know her feelings. He wouldn't be so concerned if he only knew.

"I just know that you're sick because of me," she said; "you spent so much time with me that you caught the virus. And I'm sorry for that."

Ichigo shook his head. "Don't say that, Inoue. It's not your fault. These things happen."

"But if you hadn't kissed me, maybe you wouldn't have gotten sick at all, because—" she stopped, noticing Ichigo was giving her a surprised look. "What?"

"Um… nothing," he mumbled, shaking his head. "It's just… um, I didn't think you remembered…"

Orihime blinked in confusion. "What?"

Blushing a very bright shade of pink, Ichigo seemed to sink lower into the mattress. "You know… the kiss…" he said, his voice lowering.

Orihime grinned, the kind of apologetic grin she displayed whenever she had done a blurb or said something silly. She scratched the back of her neck and laughed somewhat forcibly. Ichigo noticed the pink coloring appearing gradually on her cheeks until she looked completely flushed.

"Um, I couldn't remember at first," she said. "I guess I must've been really sleepy then. But then Chizuru asked me if it was true."

Ichigo only blushed brighter. "Oh, yeah… the rumors."

"She said she would beat you up if it was true," Orihime added. "I don't know why she would say that."

"O… kay…" Ichigo sweat-dropped. Of course she wouldn't.

Orihime seemed to think for a moment, a faint smile on her lips as she looked at her hands absent-mindedly. "So I told her it wasn't true," she said very softly.

Ichigo didn't reply. He just cocked his head slightly to one side, trying to catch her eye. He couldn't know what she was really thinking if she avoided his eyes.

"But I do remember now," she whispered, and Ichigo swallowed hard. When she lifted her gaze, they looked at each other for what felt like the longest time. Something passed between them during that instant, something maybe they wouldn't quite understand right there and then, but it was real, and it was all that mattered.

"I should probably go."

Orihime stood up suddenly, and Ichigo's face fell. She paused, however, as if debating something with herself. He was about to speak, when she blushed furiously again, like she had just made up her mind. Then she leaned down toward him, gently grazing his cheek with her hand, and kissed him very softly on the forehead.

"Get well, Ich— um… Kurosaki-kun."

Turning on her heel quickly, Orihime walked to the door and left.

Ichigo didn't move, only stared at the closed door, stunned and dizzy by what had just happened. His face was completely flushed now, and his stomach did a somersault, most likely caused by the many butterflies he felt fluttering inside.

He could really use some rest now, considering how his heart had started racing out of control. He would've liked to kick himself (or have someone kick him), for being such an idiot; he just sat there, said nothing, and watched her leave. Oh yes, he needed someone to knock him around a bit for being so utterly stupid.

Leaning back into the pillows, he fluffed them down to lie down. How was he supposed to sleep now? Pulling the blankets up to his chest, he noticed the morning glory blossom was still on his lap. He gently picked it up and placed it on the nightstand, next to the box of cookies. Turning onto his left side, he stared at the flower for a long time.

_I'm such a wanker_, he grumbled to himself before his eyes closed and he dozed off.

* * *

"Is it just me or did he justhave the most idiotic smile on his face?"

"Shut up."

"He's so pathetic; I'd like it very much to whoop his ass."

"Shut up, you moron! Do you want to get us caught?"

"Daft prick."

"Renji, quit it!"

"Ow!"

Rukia hissed as quietly as possible as she elbowed Renji for being so freaking noisy, when they were supposed to be hiding. It was not like Ichigo's closet was a good hiding place if they were trying to spy, but in the spur of the moment, it was the only place they found. When Ichigo fell asleep while talking to Rukia, she got an interesting call from Hitsugaya. Taking advantage of the dozing Ichigo, Rukia called Renji, and they snuck into the aforementioned closet. Rukia knew it wasn't right to spy or eavesdrop or anything, but she just couldn't miss this. If only Renji could not be so annoying, stay still and keep silent, they wouldn't have been nearly caught a couple of times.

"Now we're going to have to wait for him to fall asleep again?" Renji asked, whining a bit like a little kid. It only made Rukia elbow him again.

"We can't just burst out of the closet now, can we? He'd kill us."

"Newsflash, Rukia: we're already dead."

"You know what I mean."

"You just don't want anything to happen to your gigai."

"It's a nice gigai, okay? I like it. I don't want to ruin it."

"But you don't mind kicking and elbowing mine, right?"

"You deserve it."

Renji pouted, which looked rather funny considering he was a full-grown guy with tattoos all over his body and weird red hair. Rukia rolled her eyes.

"You're being mean, you know? I'd very much like to get away from you," he said, and motioned to get out.

"Sit down, stay still and shut up," Rukia replied, shoving him away from the door. Renji looked offended and he threw up his arms.

"But I'm dying to tell someone about this!"

"You can't go out and tell people about this, you wanker! Are you crazy?"

"But I thought the reason we came in here was to see anything that might happen."

"But that doesn't imply divulging it afterwards, now does it?"

"You have the concept of gossip completely wrong," Renji pointed out with a grin. Rukia shook her head, annoyed.

"I didn't come here to get gossip. I came because if I don't have eyewitness evidence to back me up, then there would be no point in having known all along that it would eventually come to this."

She crossed her arms and looked proud of herself, and Renji narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "You're being weird, Rukia. Like, 'schoolgirl' weird. I think you've been reading too much shoujo." He shook his head. "Why are you so into this?"

"Because it's romantic," Rukia replied, and she couldn't help but smile as she slid the door open a crack and peered out at an already sleeping Ichigo.

"Try 'creepy'," Renji hissed in her ear as he leaned over and peered over her head at the same scene. "You're being creepy for sneaking around, and now so am I, because you dragged me into it."

Rukia ignored him. She continued to watch Ichigo sleep, and her eyes fell on the purple flower on the nightstand. She chuckled. If Ichigo ever found out that she and Renji had seen the effect Orihime had on him, she feared they would get the full blast of his ire. But then again, maybe not; something seemed different about Ichigo. And Rukia had the feeling she knew what had caused that change, even though he probably wouldn't admit it. At least not yet.

"Why are men so dense?" she asked in a low voice, shaking her head disapprovingly.

"Excuse me?"

Rukia turned and gave Renji a long, glowering look. She raised an eyebrow, clearly conveying a message to him, but he just looked back at her with the same expression, as if he didn't get it at all. She sighed impatiently and looked away.

"You heard me."

Renji, obviously not getting the hint, just sat against the back of the closet and scoffed. He was silent only for a few seconds.

"At least I can tease _him_ about it, can't I?"

Rukia sweat-dropped. "Remind me yet again why the hell I brought you along."

* * *

Am I building up to something else? Maybe I am, maybe I'm not. You'll have to keep your eyes open to find out.

Okay, this was lamer than the previous story. But it was inspired. One time I was sick last year, before the holidays, my boyfriend took time out of his super busy schedule (really busy during the holidays), to visit me; and he brought me… a Kon plushie. That's where my Kon came from. You cannot fathom how funny that was unless you'd been there to see it; can you picture a red-headed young man (my boyfriend isn't Japanese, he's a red-headed brit named Harry, yeah, like the prince) with a Kon in his arms? You could say I've got my very own Ichigo (except his hair is red instead of, well, bleach).

Orihime reminds me a lot of Améliè, which is a conclusion I made recently when I watched the movie for the umpteenth time in my life; Orihime lives alone, she's a daydreamer, a romantic, she loves to help, but she can barely help herself, and she's too shy to do something about her love life, so she just seems to wait for things to happen to her. It's alsoonly appropriate (in my own bizarre opinion) that Kubotite defined her theme song to be a French song, considering she seems so French. (Don't ask, it's too long to explain.)

And Ichigo reminds me constantly of how dense guys can be. But there's still hope for him. There's still hope for all guys, if they agree to stop being such idiots.

I'm working on other stories right now. Maybe I'll post something new soon.

Please review. And thank you for reading!

**-Nariko the Seer a.k.a Deathberry15**


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